OT: Health warning!!

[Ned Swift]

Hi All

For you health conscious people and those that should be.  I thought that I 
was in near perfect health.  I  don't smoke, my cholesterol is normal, I am 
not over weight, I exercise 30 minutes daily, I eat a low fat/low carb diet 
and I am only 52.  Certainly not a candidate for heart problems.  Yet, the 
other morning as I was driving to work, I developed a pain in my chest and 
left arm.

My initial thought was indigestion.  But, when the problem persisted after 
15 minutes, I decided that maybe it was  something more serious so I turned 
the car around and headed back home.  Once home, I called 911 and chewed an 
aspirin.  Then, I got a very nice ambulance ride to the hospital.  ( The 
hospital is a major one in the state and is known for its cardiac care 
unit.)

The folks in emergency couldn't find anything wrong with me.  My EKG was 
normal (no heart damage), the pain was gone and my blood tests were normal 
for the most part.  The only thing that was remotely off was a blood hormone 
called troponin.  For normal people, the troponin level is 0.  For heart 
problems it is 2 or higher.  Mine was 0.2, just slightly elevated but 
nothing alarming.

After 7 hours of observation with no other signs of a problem, they decided 
to do a heart catheterization on me.  Once they shot the dye into my blood, 
the problem was obvious.  95% blockage in a major artery supply blood to the 
heart.  A quick angioplasty followed by the installation of a stint (metal 
mesh that holds the artery open) and I am on my way back to my room.  Total 
time was less than 1/2 hour.  BTW, they give you some wonder drugs to make 
you relax during the procedure.  It was rather strange to be talking with 
the staff as they are putting things in your heart arteries but that was the 
way it was.

The next morning, they sent me home.  Total hospital time was about 24 
hours.  Truly amazing.

I had no reason to believe that there was anything seriously wrong with me  
prior to this event.  In fact, on Saturday before the event,  I spent all 
afternoon building a stone wall in my back yard.  Most of the stones were 
about the size of watermelons and weighted about 100 lbs.  I handled them 
all by hand and did not have any problems doing it.  Yet, three day later, I 
was having major heart problems.

On the day of the problem, I almost ignored the pain telling myself that I 
was healthy and that the pain was  indigestion.  Even in the heart cath lab, 
they wondered why I was in there because I was not the typical heart patient 
with the typical heart problem profile.  Yet, I did have a major problem.  
If the artery had become completely blocked, they said that it would have 
killed me.  Fortunately, I didn't ignore the problem.

Now to the point.  DO NOT IGNORE ANY HEART SYMPTOMS.  Yes, it can happen to 
you and it doesn't matter if you run 5 miles a day and only eat roots and 
berries.  And yes, people do drop dead at young ages even though they seem 
healthy.  When problems arise, don't assume that you are OK just because you 
think that you are in good health.  Get it checked out.

FWIW

Ned Swift

Lowell, MI

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